Stadium silence

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/12/2010 (5464 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THE multimillion-dollar football stadium deal has been fraught with confusion and two access-to-information requests didn’t help.

In September, when David Asper was still involved in plans for a new Canadian Football League stadium for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, students in Red River College’s journalism program asked the city and the provincial governments for “all documents such as email, memos, communication strategies and briefing notes” related to the deal that had dominated headlines for months.

After 30 days, the province replied with a batch of papers. But the documents included only old information such as speaking notes and press releases that had already been reported on by mainstream media.

The city didn’t answer at all. Nearly three months later, well after the students’ access-to-information project was over and long after the 30-day deadline, the city has not provided any documents or any information.

A city spokesman claimed the delay was due to the recent civic election.